World 'failing to treat high cholesterol'

Most people around the globe with high cholesterol are not getting the treatment they need, claims the largest ever study of 147m people.

High levels of the blood fat are linked with cardiovascular disease, the world's biggest killer, which takes 17m lives a year.

The report in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization says too few people are put on cholesterol-lowering drugs.

The data, spanning a decade, is from England, Scotland and six more nations.

The report authors, which included Dr Gregory Roth from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in the US, say: "These findings support the growing recognition that cardiovascular diseases are not merely 'diseases of affluence' and that some middle-income countries are beginning to face a double burden of both chronic and communicable diseases."

Global issue

For example, in Thailand 78% of adults surveyed, who were found to have high cholesterol, had not been diagnosed, while in Japan, 53% of adults were diagnosed but remained untreated.

Although England fared slightly better, in 2006, when its snap-shot was undertaken, over two-thirds of people remained undiagnosed and around a fifth were diagnosed but untreated.

Life Clinic Says:

The issue with heart disease and cholesterol is a complex one and one which cholesterol plays only a small part, if any part. Its well known that the risk factors to heart disease are many and include smoking, Hypertension, elevated LDL, inactivity and central obesity (a waist hip ratio of more than 0.85). However, its what these lifestyle habits do to the body biochemically that matters, and what we can do before it gets out of hand.

Understanding these key areas of your health is what really matters, and can be easily evaluated through a couple of tests and consultations. In the UK it is now a requirement that all 45 year old and older are tested on a yearly basis so that these markers can be monitored and corrected if required.

For further information or if you would like to arrange a test, contact us.